An ancient order of monks is claiming ownership of Blackburn Cathedral.
Members of the Order of Samplers claim Blackburn Cathedral was promised to them as reward for saving lives of many Kings and Queens of medieval England.
This order was founded around a similar time as their more famous fellow monks, the Knights Templar. This latter order were fighting monks who made their name during the Crusades and accumulated vast amounts of wealth. This made them fall foul of ruling religious elites in Europe and they were eventually imprisoned, executed and had their wealth confiscated, or so history states.
Samplers on the other hand were seen as friendly beer brewing monks. They spent their time in monasteries brewing beer for other monks and nuns and local people who inhabited areas where they were based. Unlike Templars, Samplers were very popular with everybody, including both royal and religious elites.
What particularly ingratiated them with these ruling elites was their uncanny knack of being able to distinguish between beer and wine which was safe to drink, or whether it had been poisoned. This was where their name came from. It was said many Kings, Bishops and Lords of the Manor had been saved by Samplers.
During those turbulent times of King Henry VIII, it is believed his Samplers really had their work cut out tasting beer and wine served to England’s most recognisable monarch. Henry was extremely pleased with this service they provided him, especially with them helping to keep him alive. So when it came round to his Dissolution of the Monasteries Act, Henry promised them they would not be evicted from any of their residences.
It seems one of their residences may have been the old parish church upon what now stands present day Blackburn Cathedral. It is possible with Samplers being an order of Black Friars, based on land next to the black burn, very handy for washing their dirty habits, this may be one of the sources from where our town’s name originates.
Now it seems this ancient monastic order has appeared from the depths of time, claiming what they say is rightfully theirs. Unfortunately for the Samplers, all records of their order were destroyed when Blackburn’s townsfolk supported Oliver Cromwell during the English Civil War.
Sadly for Blackburn’s Samplers, it was said they kept sparse records and these were very limited due to their historian enjoying produce of the grape and the grain, which they brewed, far too much. He wasn’t very good at spelling either. He said their address was Blackburn’s Church of the Naivety. This made people think he lived up to his order’s name way beyond his remit.
But in these changing secular times, were religious belief and influence is diminishing, perhaps today’s Church of England may be open to accommodating their former occupants somewhere within their Blackburn site. It would be nice to see a brewery return to our town centre and start brewing beer once more. It could become a major tourist attraction, giving us all a chance to become samplers.
